Preformed fiberglass swimming pools offer many advantages over in-situ formed shotcrete or concrete walled swimming pools. Fiberglass pool bodies may be quickly and inexpensively formed and require considerably less effort to put into the ground. The main drawback associated with fiberglass swimming pools has been the tendency for the bottom and/or sides to bulge inward from geological and/or hydrostatic forces from accumulated groundwater if the backfill around the pool is not properly done and/or if the pool body is underfilled or drained beyond a minimum threshold amount of remaining water left in the pool body. The backfill around the pool perimeter is typically sand, gravel, or a combination of the two. In the case of sand, a poor backfilling job may result in settling of the sand, which may lead to an inward bulging of the pool floor and/or sidewalls. Gravel backfill is less prone to flowing and settling, but is harder to evenly distribute around the outer surface of a pool, especially if that surface is irregularly shaped. Further, some pool owners insist upon emptying the pool of water, such as for thorough cleaning, and as fiberglass pool designs rely on contained water to provide positive pressure to resist inward bulging of the sides and/or hydrostatic forces pushing against the pool bottom, such imbalanced forces may urge the pool upwardly, resulting in a ruptured pool bottom and/or dislodgement of the pool body.
Ground water may cause major damage and expensive repair costs to in-ground pools, if not managed properly. Swimming pool owners have concrete pools popping out of the ground, vinyl liners floating, and fiberglass pools being warped, cracked and dislodged due to the application of uncontrolled hydrostatic forces.
Thus, there remains a need for a method and apparatus that would allow for the release of inwardly and/or upwardly directed forces acting against the emplaced fiberglass pool body so as to resist inward bulging of the pool bottom and/or sidewalls over time, as well as reduce or eliminate upwardly directed forces urging the pool body out of the ground. The present novel technology addresses this need.